This Date in Baseball-Week Ahead

June 23

1917 — In baseball’s greatest relief effort, Ernie Shore of the Boston Red Sox came in for Babe Ruth with nobody out and a man on first. The base runner was cut down stealing and Shore retired all 26 batters he faced to gain a 4-0 victory over Washington. Ruth walked Eddie Foster to open the game and was ejected after arguing with umpire Brick Owens.

1932 — Lou Gehrig plays his 1,103rd successive game in a New York uniform, equaling Joe Sewell’s record with one team (Cleveland).

1950 — Hoot Evers’ winning home run in the ninth inning gave the Detroit Tigers a 10-9 victory over the New York Yankees as the teams combined for 11 home runs, a major league record. The Yankees hit six and the Tigers five.

1963 — Jimmie Piersall, playing for the Mets in New York, hit his 100th career home run and celebrated by running around the bases backward.

1971 — Rick Wise of the Philadelphia Phillies pitched a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds and hit two homers. Wise became the first pitcher to hit two homers while throwing a no-hitter.

1973 — Pitcher Ken Brett of the Philadelphia Phillies hit a home run in the fourth consecutive game that he pitched in June. He beat Montreal 7-2.

1984 — Chicago’s Ryne Sandberg hit two late-inning home runs off St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bruce Sutter to tie the game twice as the Cubs went on to win 12-11 in 11 innings. Sandberg led off the ninth inning with a solo home run to tie the game 9-9 then hit a two-run, two-out homer in the 10th to tie the game 11-11. Willie McGee hit for the cycle and drove in six runs for St. Louis.

1993 — Seattle OF Jay Buhner hits for the cycle in the Mariners’ 8 - 7, 14-inning win over the Athletics. He is the first Mariner player to ever hit for the cycle..

2003 — Stealing second base at Pacific Bell Park in the 11th inning, Barry Bonds becomes the first player to hit 500 home runs and steal 500 bases in his career. The Giants’ left fielder may not only be the charter member of the 500-500 club, many believe, including him, he will most likely be its only member, as no one else may ever reach this plateau.

2008 — Felix Hernandez hit the first grand slam by an American League pitcher in 37 years, then departed with a sprained ankle before he could qualify for a win in Seattle’s 5-2 victory over the New York Mets. The shot to right-center off Johan Santana was the first home run by a pitcher in Mariners history, and the first slam by an AL hurler since Cleveland’s Steve Dunning went deep against Oakland’s Diego Segui on May 11, 1971.

2013 — David Wright homered, tripled and matched a Mets record with four extra-base hits to back Matt Harvey’s splendid start in a lopsided 8-0 victory over Philadelphia. Wright went 4 for 5 with two of New York’s season-high seven doubles.

2020 — After the Players Association ratified proposed COVID-19 safety protocols, an abbreviated 60-game season will begin July 23rd or 24th.

_____

June 24

1936 — Rookie Joe DiMaggio hit two homers in the fifth inning and added two doubles in the New York Yankees’ 18-4 victory over the St. Louis Browns.

1950 — Wes Westrum of the New York Giants hit three home runs and a triple in a 12-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.

1955 — Harmon Killebrew hit his first major league homer, off Billy Hoeft at Griffith Stadium, but the Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators 18-7.

1962 — Jack Reed, a substitute outfielder, hit a homer off Phil Regan in the 22nd inning to give the New York Yankees a 9-7 win over the Detroit Tigers in a game that lasted 7 hours, 22 minutes. It was the only homer Reed hit in the majors.

1968 — Jim Northrup tied a major league record by hitting two grand slams in one game as the Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians 14-3.

1983 — Don Sutton of the Milwaukee Brewers became the eighth pitcher in major league history to strike out 3,000 batters. Sutton’s 3,000th victim was Cleveland’s Alan Bannister in a 3-2 win over the Indians.

1984 — Oakland’s Joe Morgan hit his 265th home run as a second baseman, breaking Roger Hornsby’s career home run record for that position. Morgan’s homer off Frank Tanana was the 267th of his career and led the A’s to a 4-2 win over Texas.

1993 — Carlton Fisk of the White Sox, plays his 2,226th and final major league game, surpassing Bob Boone’s record of 2,225 for most games caught.

1993 — The Marlins obtain OF Gary Sheffield and P Rich Rodriguez from the Padres for P Trevor Hoffman, Andres Berumen and Jose Martinez. The Fish will give Sheffield a four-year contract extension in September.

1994 — Jeff Bagwell hit three homers, two in one inning to tie a major league record, as the Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 16-4.

1997 — Randy Johnson of the Seattle Mariners struck out 19 batters — one short of Roger Clemens’ major league record for a nine-inning game. He became the first AL left-hander to fan 19, but the Oakland Athletics won 4-1.

2002 — Both starters in the first game of the Anaheim-Texas doubleheader — Joaquin Benoit and Aaron Sele — threw 96 pitches, 53 strikes and 43 balls. Benoit and the Rangers won 8-5.

2003 — Brad Wilkerson hit for the cycle, going 4-for-4 with four RBIs, in Montreal’s 6-4 win over Pittsburgh. It was the first cycle in the majors this season and was performed in sequence — single, double, triple and homer.

2014 — Brothers B.J. and Justin Upton tied the major league record for brothers homering in the same game as teammates, accomplishing the feat for the fourth time, in Atlanta’s 3-2 win over Houston. Other brothers who had homered in the same game four times were Jeremy and Jason Giambi for the Oakland A’s and Vladimir and Wilton Guerrero for the Montreal Expos.

2015 — Pavin Smith homered and drove in three runs and Brandon Waddell turned in another strong College World Series pitching performance, leading Virginia over Vanderbilt 4-2 for the school’s first baseball national championship.

2017 — Three different Oakland A’s players, Matt Olson, Jaycob Brugmand and Franklin Baretto, hit their first career home run in a 10-2 win over the White Sox.

2019 — The Yankees tie a record belonging to the 2002 Rangers by homering in their 27th straight game on their way to defeating the Blue Jays.

2018 — The Dodgers set a National League record with seven solo home runs in an 8-7 win over the Mets.

2021 — The Chicago Cubs throw the first combined no-hitter in franchise history beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-0. It was the seventh no-hitter of the season.

_____

June 25

1934 — Pitcher John Broaca tied a major league record by striking out five consecutive times but pitched the Yankees to an 11-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Lou Gehrig had better luck at the plate, hitting for the cycle.

1937 — Augie Galan of Chicago became the first National League switch-hitter to homer from both sides of the plate in the Cubs’ 11-2 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1950 — Chicago’s Hank Sauer hit two home runs and two doubles to send the Cubs past the Philadelphia Phillies 11-8.

1961 — Baltimore and California used a major league record 16 pitchers, eight by each side, as the Orioles edged the Angels 9-8 on Ron Hansen’s 14th-inning homer.

1968 — Bobby Bonds, in his first major league game, hit a grand slam off John Purdin to help San Francisco to a 9-0 win over Los Angeles.

1988 — Cal Ripken Jr. plays in his 1,000th consecutive game.

1998 — Sammy Sosa broke the major league record for homers in a month, hitting his 19th of June leading off the seventh inning of the Cubs’ 6-4 loss to Detroit. Sosa passed the mark set by Detroit’s Rudy York in August 1937.

1999 — Jose Jimenez, a rookie right-hander having one of the worst seasons than any other NL pitcher, threw St. Louis’ first no-hitter in 16 seasons, outdueling Randy Johnson in a 1-0 victory over Arizona.

2002 — Luis Pujols of the Detroit Tigers and Tony Pena of the Kansas City Royals became the first Dominican-born managers to oppose each other in a major league game.

2007 — A fan charged at Bob Howry during the Cubs’ 10-9 win over Colorado after the reliever helped blow an 8-3 lead in the ninth inning. Howry gave up back-to-back RBI singles to Garrett Atkins and Brad Hawpe and a three-run homer to Troy Tulowitzki. The fan then jumped onto the field from the roof of the Rockies’ dugout and made it a few feet from the mound before security guards tackled him. Howry earned the victory when Alfonso Soriano hit a game-ending two-run single in the bottom of the inning.

2010 — Arizona’s Edwin Jackson pitched a 1-0 no-hitter against Tampa Bay at Tropicana Field.

2010 — The Cubs suspend pitcher Carlos Zambrano indefinitely after he throws a tantrum in the dugout after giving up 4 runs in the 1st inning of a 6 - 0 loss to the White Sox. “Big Z” blames first baseman Derrek Lee for letting a Juan Pierreground ball past him for a double that starts the rally, although the hard-hit ball was hardly catchable. Tom Gorzelanny replaces Zambrano who is removed from the game by manager Lou Piniella.

2011 — Cleveland’s Tony Sipp balked home the only run with the bases loaded in the seventh inning of a 1-0 loss to San Francisco. Sipp slightly flinched his left arm before throwing a pitch to Emmanuel Burriss, allowing Miguel Tejada to score and sending San Francisco to its fourth straight win. There also were two errors in the inning by second baseman Cord Phelps that spoiled a strong start by Justin Masterson.

2013 — Eric Filia drove in a career-high five runs, Nick Vander Tuig limited Mississippi State to five hits in eight innings, and UCLA won 8-0 for its first national baseball championship.

2014 — Tim Lincecum pitched his second no-hitter against the San Diego Padres in less than a year, allowing only one runner and leading the San Francisco Giants to a 4-0 win.

2015 — The San Francisco Giants hit four triples in a game for the first time in 55 years, including a pair by Brandon Belt in a 13-8 win over the San Diego Padres. Brandon Crawford and Matt Duffy also tripled for San Francisco, which had not tripled four times in a game since Sept. 15, 1960, when Willie Mays hit three and Eddie Bressoud one at Philadelphia.

2018 — The St. Louis Cardinals record the 10,000th win in team history with a 4-0 defeat of the Cleveland Indians.. They are the sixth major league team to do so.

2019 — The New York Yankees set a new major league record by homering in their 28th consecutive game.

2021 — Philadelphia Philles pitcher Aaron Nola ties Tom Seaver’s 51-Year old MLB record of ten consecutive strike outs in a 2-1 loss to the Mew York Mets.

2022 — Three Astros pitchers combine to no-hit the Yankees, 3 - 0.

_____

June 26

1916 — The Cleveland Indians wore numbers on their sleeves in a game against the Chicago White Sox. It marked the first time players were identified by numbers corresponding to the scorecard.

1924 — New York right-hander Virgil Barnes faced his older sibling, Jesse, marking the first time brothers started against one another in major league history. Jesse got the loss when the Giants beat the Boston Braves 11-7.

1938 — Lonny Frey of the Cincinnati Reds had eight hits in a doubleheader split with the Philadelphia Phillies. Frey had three hits in a 10-3 opening-game loss and collected five in the nightcap, which the Reds won 8-5.

1944 — In an effort to raise funds for war bonds, the New York Giants, Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees played each other in a six-inning game at the Polo Grounds. More than 50,000 fans turned out. Each team played successive innings against the other two teams then would sit out an inning. The final score was Dodgers 5, Yankees 1, Giants 0.

1962 — Earl Wilson of the Boston Red Sox pitched a 2-0 no-hitter against the Los Angeles Angels at Fenway Park. Wilson, the Red Sox’s first black pitcher, also homered in the game.

1968 — St. Louis’ Bob Gibson pitched his fifth consecutive shutout as he blanked Pittsburgh, 3-0, in the first game of a doubleheader at Busch Stadium.

1970 — Frank Robinson hit two grand slams to power the Baltimore Orioles to a 12-2 victory over the Washington Senators.

1976 — Shortstop Toby Harrah played an entire doubleheader for the Texas Rangers without handling a batted ball by the Chicago White Sox.

1983 — New York’s Rusty Staub tied a season record with his eighth consecutive pinch hit. Staub equaled the 1958 mark established by Dave Philley of the Phillies when he singled in the ninth inning off reliever Ron Reed in the Mets’ 8-4 loss to Philadelphia at Shea Stadium.

2000 — Minor league sensation Alex Cabrera hit a two-run homer in his first major league at-bat for Arizona as the Diamondbacks beat the Houston Astros 6-1.

2003 — Edgar Martinez, who already holds the Mariners’ all-time records for games played, at-bats, hits, doubles, total bases, extra-base hits, walks and runs scored, passes Ken Griffey Jr.’s mark for team career RBIs. His two-run homer in the Mariners’ 10 - 6 victory over the Angels gives the All-Star designated hitter 1,153 RBIs - one more than Junior.

2006 — Oregon State beats North Carolina 3-2 for its first College World Series title.

2015 — Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg resigns in his third season with his team in last place.

2019 — Vanderbilt University defeats Michigan 8-2 to win the College World Series.

2021— The Arizona Diamondbacks end their record streak of consecutive road losses by defeating the San Diego Padres 10-1.

_____